Endoscopy is a widely-used, minimally invasive technique for both imaging and delivering therapeutics to anatomical locations within the human body. Typically a flexible endoscope is used to deliver tools to an operative site inside the body—e.g., through small incisions or a natural orifice in the body (nasal, anal, vaginal, urinary, throat, etc.)—where a procedure is performed. Endoscopes may have imaging, lighting and steering capabilities at the distal end of a flexible shaft enabling navigation of non-linear lumens or pathways.
Endolumenal surgical applications involve positioning and driving an endoscope to a desired anatomical position. To assist with endolumenal navigation, the endoscopes often have a means to articulate a small distal bending section. Today's endoscopic devices are typically hand held devices with numerous levers, dials, and buttons for various functionalities, but offer limited performance in terms of articulation. For control, physicians control the position and progress of the endoscope by manipulating the levers or dials in concert with twisting the shaft of the scope. These techniques require the physician to contort their hands and arms when using the device to deliver the scope to the desired position. The resulting arm motions and positions are awkward for physicians; maintaining those positions can also be physically taxing. Thus, manual actuation of bending sections is often constrained by low actuation force and poor ergonomics.
Today's endoscopes also require support personnel to both deliver, operate and remove operative, diagnostic or therapeutic devices from the scope while the physician maintains the desired position. Today's endoscopes also utilize pull wires that create issues with curve alignment and muscling. Some procedures require fluoroscopy or segmented CT scans to assist in navigating to the desired location, particularly for small lumen navigation.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a system and tools for endolumenal robotic procedures that provide improved ergonomics, usability, and navigation. Application of these technologies may also be applied to other surgical procedures, such as vascular surgeries. It would also be beneficial to have an improved control for catheters and endoscopes to have a controlled bend with a neutral axis remaining constant during bending operations. Additionally it would be beneficial to have an improved method for manufacturing such catheters and endoscopes, i.e., endoscopes and catheters that maintain a neutral axis despite the bending, stretching, and articulating that occurs during use in anatomical structures and spaces.